Blues Under 18s teams to play Chiefs at College Rifles

Two Blues Under 18 teams have been selected to take on the Chiefs Under 18s at College Rifles this afternoon following a camp held last week at Mt Albert Grammar.

The camp, overseen by Tony Hanks and Shane King and attended by 70 players over the week, concentrated primarily on the development of technical, tactical, mental, physical, nutrition and personal leadership.

Players engaged with the current Blues team throughout the camp and also worked with former Blues players such as Paul Thompson, Slade McFarland, Justin Collins, Isa Nacewa and Ofisa Tonu’u.

A key objective was to deliver top quality coaching and presentations. The players worked with the Blues and ITM Cup coaches during the week and were also entertained and inspired by rugby commentator Scotty ‘Sumo’ Stevenson. The players received regular feedback from a team of dedicated positional coaches and other experts.

The players worked extremely hard over five long days and the attitude and effort was consistent with the high expectations set at the beginning of the camp and the Blues values. The parents were a big part of the camp, with a great turnout on day one and day five.

In a move from previous years, two games gives 48 players the chance to represent the Blues and put the camp learnings into practice. 19 schools from across the region are represented in the two teams who are coached by our Blues Provincial Union ITM Cup Coaches.

The players' enthusiasm in training on Sunday was energetic and they can’t wait to get out and represent the Blues with pride on Monday.